Head Off Ding-and-dent Rows

February 4, 1986

It was one of those flaps that nobody wins and that -- in the future -- car rental customers and companies should do more to avoid.

Tourist Bill Bergmann had to pay $150 for damage supposedly done to his rental car during a one-week vacation in Central Florida last fall. The unhappy customer, who said in a recent letter to the Sentinel that the dents and chips had been there already, couldn't prove it because he hadn't had a company employee make a note of any existing damage.

Fortunately, such disputes are infrequent -- based on the lack of complaints to the Better Business Bureau. Any pattern of inflated charges for dings and scratches would hurt renters in the short run but eventually would boomerang on a rental-car company and the industry overall.

But to minimize these hassles, it shouldn't be just the customer who's looking for a car's flaws. The companies should inspect departing cars as carefully as they stare at the returning ones.

There's one more thing that car rental companies could do to help avoid the kind of last-minute quarrel that sent the Bergmann family back to Knightstown, Ind., with sore feelings. They should drop the price for 100 percent insurance against damage. Usually, it's way too expensive.

Consider Mr. Bergmann's case, which is typical. His own insurance covered any damage after a $200 deductible; yet to get protected for that $200, it would have cost him $7.95 a day -- nearly $56 for the week. That absurd rate discourages people with any math skills at all from buying this extra protection. Nevertheless, lots of people say yes.

Ironically, the way for consumers to prod rental-car companies toward a square deal is to combine what Mr. Bergmann wishes he had done with what he did. They should get every scratch written on the rental form and -- if their own insurance is adequate -- scoff at the extra cost of 100 percent protection.

If enough renters do that, the rate for total protection might just drop to a reasonable level.